TransLink board to consider taking over HandyDART operations

The future of Metro Vancouver’s HandyDART accessible transit service hangs in the balance Wednesday as TransLink considers what it calls ‘delivery options.’

On the agenda for a public TransLink Board of Directors meeting is a discussion over whether the transit authority should stay with the current option of contracting HandyDART out to a private company or take operations in-house.

TransLink has employed France-based Transdev Group to operate the service since 2023, when Transdev acquired the previous operator.

Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union 1724 (ATU), which represents approximately 600 HandyDART drivers, dispatchers, and maintenance workers, says the board is being asked to renew a deal with Transdev.

“We have a huge problem with that, given that the public wants it brought in house, the mayors want it brought in house and the riders want it brought in house,” said McCann.

Last month, nine mayors and city councils from across Metro Vancouver advocated for TransLink to resume operating HandyDART.

In a TransLink review of the delivery models, staff suggest a “fully in-house model” would be the most expensive, citing operating impacts such as hiring new staff, and the possibility of unions bargaining for parity of wages with other workers.

“These factors combined have the potential to increase annual cost to the TransLink Enterprise budget by $20 million to $70 million a year,” said the staff report.

McCann says he wonders how staff came up with that number.

“They had no real reporting on that,” he claims.

“They said, we are going to be asking for parity in this meeting I had with them. But in the same thing, the report says we already get parity with Coast Mountain, so that’s not a real argument. They’re saying maybe $70 million is what it’s going to cost to write a few procedure manuals. That’s just absurd.”

McCann says if HandyDART continues to be contracted out, it will result in more money lost.

“It’s going to be more corners cut in the service. We’re going to see more taxis being used. We’re going to see a decline in overall quality of service… And it’s not what the people want. It’s not what the customers want. It’s not what the clients deserve. They deserve properly trained HandyDART drivers that know what they need.”

The TransLink Board of Directors meeting is expected to begin at 9 a.m.

—With files from Dean Recksiedler